Pirate's Promise (7 page)

Benjy stopped. “Rest now,” he said.

“Will they look for us?” asked Tom.

“Yes,” said Benjy, “but they will not find us here tonight.”

They lay down in the wet jungle grass. Toward morning Tom went to sleep.

It was daylight when he woke. Benjy was there with fruit and nuts that he had found. Tom ate a little. Benjy ate nothing.

Tom looked up at the trees that shut out the sun. “No one could find us here,” he said.

“Yes,” said Benjy. “If we stay on this island very long, Captain Red and his men will find us. They will hunt us down.”

They started on through the jungle.

They walked until they came to the sea. They had come all the way across the island.

Benjy found a hiding place for Tom. It was in the branches of a tree. “Do not show yourself until I call,” he said.

Tom sat in the tree. Through the leaves he could see the sky. He watched it grow dark. The stars were out when he heard Benjy call softly from below.

Tom climbed down.

“Do not talk,” said Benjy in a whisper.

With hardly a sound, they walked to the beach. A boat lay at the edge of the water.

Tom got into the boat. Benjy pushed it into the water. He got in and took the oars.

They were a long way from shore before he spoke. “Our luck held good. There was no one to see us go.”

The boat smelled of fish and seaweed.

“Where did you get this boat?” asked Tom.

“I took it from a fisherman,” answered Benjy. “I fought him for it.”

“Where are we going?” asked Tom.

“Far from here,” said Benjy.

He set up a sail, and it caught the wind. The little boat sailed out to sea.

It was the beginning of a strange journey. For days and weeks the boat sailed along a chain of islands. Some of the islands were green with trees. Others were no more than bare rocks.

On one of the islands Benjy killed a young goat. He cut the goat meat into strips and hung them over a fire. When they were smoked and dry they were good to eat. He and Tom ate the smoked meat while they sailed from island to island.

They had fish to eat, too, and turtles and turtles' eggs. There was always food in the boat, yet day by day Benjy grew thinner. He never smiled. Tom never saw him sleep.

Once Tom woke and found him weeping. They were sailing by moonlight. Benjy was steering the boat with an oar. Tears shone on his face.

“What is it, Benjy?” asked Tom.

“I think of my master,” said Benjy. “I weep for him.”

One day they landed on an island.

“There is a harbor not far away,” said Benjy. “There is a city on the harbor.”

“Do you know this island?” asked Tom.

“I knew it once,” said Benjy.

He cut four poles and set them up on the beach. He turned the boat upside down and Tom helped him set it on top of the poles. The boat was the roof of their house. They stuck sticks in the sand to make the walls.

Benjy went to the city on the harbor. He brought back a suit of clothes for Tom. He brought a shirt, shoes, and stockings, too.

“Try them,” he said.

“Where did you find these clothes?” asked Tom.

“I bought them,” said Benjy.

“How did you pay for them?” asked Tom.

“With gold that our captain left to me,” said Benjy.

Tom took off his ragged clothes. He tried on the new ones. They fit very well.

“Now,” said Benjy, “you will be ready.”

Every day he went to the harbor. He watched the ships come and go.

The day came when he ran all the way back from town.

“Make ready,” he said. “There is a ship in the harbor that will sail soon for Charlestown in Carolina.”

Tom went with Benjy to town.

Benjy pointed to the ship at the dock. “Go on board. Tell the captain where you wish to go. Tell him you can pay.”

“I cannot pay,” said Tom.

“Yes,” said Benjy. He put two gold pieces into Tom's hand.

“Aren't you coming with me?” asked Tom.

“That could not be,” said Benjy. “But I have kept my promise.”

“What promise?” asked Tom.

“My master wished you to go to Charlestown,” said Benjy. “In my heart I promised him I would help you find a way.”

Tom went on board the ship. He found the captain. He asked, “Will you take me to Charlestown?”

“Can you pay?” asked the captain.

Tom showed him one of the gold pieces.

“It is not enough,” said the captain.

Tom showed him the other gold piece.

The captain nodded. “I will take you there.”

Tom went to the rail. He looked for Benjy. He wanted to say good-by. But Benjy was gone.

The voyage to Carolina was smooth, with fair skies and good winds. Only a few days after he had boarded ship, Tom was in Charlestown.

The city looked clean and new. Its harbor was a busy place.

Tom spoke to some men on the dock. He asked them the way to the Tanner plantation.

“Take the river road,” one of them told him, “until you come to a white house with trees all around it. Can you read?”

“Yes, sir,” said Tom.

“Then you'll see the name on the gate,” said the man.

Tom took the river road to the Tanner plantation. He knocked at the door of the tall white house.

A maid looked out at him.

He told her his name. “May I see Master Tanner, please?”

The maid showed him into a large, quiet room. A man was there, writing at a desk. A woman sat near him.

The man's hair was gray. He had a thin, handsome face. He looked up from the desk.

Tom bowed. “Good day, sir. I—” He stopped. He did not know how to go on.

“Have you nothing to say?” asked the man.

“Yes, sir,” said Tom. “It is about your son.”

The woman cried out, then put her hand to her mouth.

Master Tanner said, “My son has brought shame to this house. His name is not spoken here.”

“But let me tell you—” Tom began.

Master Tanner stood up. “I'll hear no more. You may go.”

Tom bowed and went quickly away. He started down the hall.

Someone called, “Wait!”

The woman was running after him.

“Tell me,” she said, “have you seen my son? Is he well? Did he send you here?”

“He wished me to come here,” said Tom. “It was the last thing he told me.”

“Where is he?” she asked. “What word do you have?”

“It is word I am sorry to bring,” said Tom.

She had been watching his face. She said, “I think I know. My son is dead.”

He nodded.

She turned her head. With her handkerchief to her eyes, she left him.

When she came back, Master Tanner was with her. He looked tired and old.

“I did not know.” He took Tom's hand. “I thank you for coming here. Will you come and sit with Mistress Tanner and me?”

Tom sat with them. Mistress Tanner began to talk of her son.

“How did you meet him?” she asked.

Tom told the story. The room grew dark while he talked. The maid came in to light the candles.

“I have talked too long, and now it is late,” said Tom. “I must start back to Charlestown.”

“Not tonight,” said Master Tanner.

“No,” said Mistress Tanner. “You must stay with us tonight.”

Tom said the next morning, “I must go to Charlestown to see what ships are there.”

“I have already sent a servant,” said Master Tanner. “He will bring us word of any ships that sail to England.”

“You must stay a while with us,” said Mistress Tanner. “We will show you where our son played when he was a boy.”

The days passed quickly. Tom walked in the plantation fields and woods. He swam in the river. He rode in the Tanner carriage.

One day word came from Charlestown. An English ship was in port. She would soon be sailing for home.

“I have no money,” said Tom, “but I can work on the ship.”

Master Tanner went to Charlestown to see what might be done.

In the evening he came home. He found Tom reading in the library. “I spoke with the ship's captain,” said Master Tanner. “He has no place for you.”

“Not even if I work?” asked Tom.

“No, but you can send a letter on the ship.”

“I'll write to Dinah!” said Tom. “I'll tell her not to worry and I'll surely be home on the next ship.”

“You need not go,” said Master Tanner.

“What did you say, sir?” asked Tom.

“We have been glad to have you here—Mistress Tanner and I,” said Master Tanner. “We like to see you about the plantation. It almost seems we have a son again. You need not go back to England. There is much I could do for you here. When you are a little older, there is much you could do to help me.”

“I thank you, sir,” said Tom. “I thank you ever so much, but I must go back. My sister is waiting.”

“Would she be happy here?” asked Master Tanner. “My brother lives near London. If I ask him to, he will seek out your sister and place her on a ship to America. I can send him a letter tomorrow. You can send your sister a letter so that she may be ready.”

Tom sat very still. He did not know what to say.

“I have spoken too quickly,” said Master Tanner. “Think about it now. Come to me when your mind is made up.”

He left Tom alone in the library.

Tom thought of Dinah. The journey to America was long. Would she be afraid to come so far?

But many others had made the journey—some of them no older than Dinah.

Would she be happy here?

He looked out into the night. Through the window he saw the garden with its walks and flowers and trees. Above it was the moon.

He thought of Dinah's wish: a place where they could be together—a garden where she could watch the moon come up. . . .

All at once he knew. She
would
be happy here. And so would he.